Africa

People take part in protests over fuel subsidy cuts in Khartoum September 25, 2013. U.S. Special Envoy to the Sudans, Donald Booth, told VOA News that fuel subsidies are believed to cost the government in Khartoum the same as the wars in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

A man walks in a burnt bank during protests over fuel subsidy cuts in Khartoum, Sept. 26, 2013.

Militias backed by Khartoum have been fighting rebels in Darfur since 2003. US Special Envoy for South Sudan and Sudan, Donald Booth, said the cost of waging war in Darfur and two Sudanese states is the same as the cost of fuel subsidies that were recently lifted by Khartoum, triggering mass protests.

The decision by Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, shown here at a news conference in August 2013, to lift fuel subsidies triggered mass protests. Bashir says the protests are an attempt to oust him.